Washington Insider-- Monday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Cuba Uses Summit of the Americas Debut for Reestablishing Hemispheric Relations

Last weekend's Summit of the Americas in Panama gave first-time participant Cuba an opportunity to begin a new phase in its relations with other North and South American countries. Going into the summit, Cuba's trade minister told the Bloomberg news service that he sees his country increasing its foreign trade and attracting new capital flows as it begins integrating more strongly into the Latin American region.

Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca Diaz said Cuba was ready to take new steps to integrate into the region. Of course, whether the communist nation successfully integrates will depend on what it means by "new steps." Still, with a normalization process now underway, there is every reason for optimism that Cuba soon will be able to reestablish more normal relations with the other countries of the hemisphere.

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Tax Credit for Working Out May Gain Bipartisan Support

It's rare these days to find legislation that can gain the support of both political parties, with bills to rename post offices being a notable exception. But just such a measure is now working its way through the legislative process.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Charles Boustany, R-La., and Ron Kind, D-Wis., would give the tax same treatment to some of the amounts paid for physical activity, fitness and exercise as money paid for medical care. Deductions would include those for fitness center memberships, physical exercise programs and qualifying exercise equipment under the Personal Health Investment Today, or PHIT, Act.

With one political party keen to provide tax credits whenever possible and the other worried about the wellbeing of the population, the exercise bill appears to have legs.

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Transportation Trade Group Lobbies Congress to Reauthorize Highway, Mass Transit Programs

The U.S. economy will lose $227 billion over the next six years without long-term reauthorization of federal highway and mass transit programs, according to a report by the American Public Transportation Association, a group whose members have a significant stake in the legislation. The $227 billion estimate is based on the combined economic effects of public transit in urban areas, according to the report

The association last week correctly pointed out that public transit and highway grants funded by the Highway Trust Fund cannot be made if authorization for surface transportation programs is not renewed before a May 31 deadline.

Congress is back in session beginning today, and transportation reauthorization is one of the issues that will be on the front burner. However, finding the money to fund the infrastructure construction, repair and maintenance that is sorely needed continues to be a problem for members of Congress, a majority of whom are opposed to raising taxes.

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Washington Insider: Uncertainty about Glyphosate

Thirty years ago, an Environmental Protection Agency committee determined that the popular weed killer Roundup might cause cancer. Six years later, in 1991, the agency reversed itself after re-evaluating the mouse study that had been the basis for the original finding.

Now the issue is back, and more important than ever. An agency of the World Health Organization has declared that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, "probably" causes cancer in people. One piece of evidence the agency cites is that same mouse study.

Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, is accusing the WHO agency of having an "agenda" and "cherry picking" data to support its case. Monsanto also says the new results are "starkly at odds with every credible scientific body that has examined glyphosate safety," including a recent review by German government regulators on behalf of the European Union.

In fact, the glyphosate controversy and the earlier decision reversal by EPA demonstrate the complications and political perils of oversimplified decisions, experts say. For starters, they think the discrepancy between Monsanto's position and that of the health organization reflects the way the WHO agency analyzes data.

Glyphosate, introduced in the 1970s, is the most widely used herbicide in the world, sprayed on farms, in forests and elsewhere. It has a well-tested reputation for being benign, as pesticides go. It is now generic and used in many products, not only Roundup.

Roundup Ready crops have gained wide U.S. acceptance to the point that they account for most corn and soybeans grown in the United States, largely because they are designed to depend on glyphosate rather than expensive cultivation to control weeds. Now, some consumer and environmental groups are arguing that the WHO findings strengthen the case for labeling genetically modified foods.

EPA says it will consider the WHO agency's finding in its own review of glyphosate. EPA has maintained its classification of glyphosate as having "evidence of noncarcinogenicity for humans" since 1991, including through a review last year.

It is important to note that WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer looks at questions very narrowly. In this case it focuses on whether a substance or behavior might cause cancer under some circumstances, even if those circumstances are quite unlikely. It does not weigh the benefit versus the risks of a chemical, as national regulators must.

As a result, it often reports findings many consider strange. For example, it classifies alcoholic beverages as human carcinogens, along with tobacco, arsenic and asbestos. Working the night shift or being a hairdresser are classified as probably cancer-causing, the same as glyphosate, because one job disrupts the body's circadian rhythms and the other involves exposure to dyes. Coffee is a "possible" carcinogen, a lower level.

Press reports indicate that, overall, the agency has reviewed 983 things like chemicals and occupations. About half could not be classified based on the evidence. Only one compound, caprolactam, which is used to make a type of nylon, had enough evidence in its favor to be judged "probably not" carcinogenic.

This approach implies a hugely different basis for interpretation. Monsanto and some regulators say the preponderance of studies shows no cancer risk from glyphosate. The WHO agency argues that a few positive links can be enough to declare a hazard, even if there are negative studies as well.

It turns out that the United States has fairly bitter experience with ultra-tight regulations. For example, the Delaney clause that was added to the Federal Food, Drugs, and Cosmetic Act in 1958 said simply, "the Secretary [of the Food and Drug Administration] shall not approve for use in food any chemical additive found to induce cancer in man, or, after tests, found to induce cancer in animals."

The clause became widely regarded as unworkable since no lab method can prove a concentration of zero. FDA and other regulators were reduced to arguing about "good enough" levels in cases where only a few cancers might be expected. Fairly quickly, the rule was charged with causing "sloppy policy, based not on zero risk, but on an unclear balance between assumed risk and assumed benefit." The Delaney clause was terminated by the passage of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996.

So, how do we interpret the current supposed "cancer links" from competing research? Well, we clearly need to dig deeply into objective facts on the matter. We always need better-supported and more precise evaluations of the safety of our food and production tools and the best possible guidance on how these can be safer, even if they can't be risk free.

Still, we do not want to refight the old Delaney war. EPA says it will conduct both a thorough review of other research and a comprehensive study of its own concerning glyphosate. We need to hold them to that pledge — at the same time we pour skepticism on research conclusions that depend on unrealistic designs or conduct, Washington Insider believes.

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